(25-05-2016 08:31 AM)skyking Wrote: Nice thread Sam.
We toured Harlech castle when we visited Portmeirion.
We stayed at a B&B Cefn Uchaf
I remember going through Criccieth on the way there.
Had a few dinners and played cards in The Cross Foxes at Garndolbemaen.
That is my review

I'm planning to go to Harlech sometime this summer. I went round Conwy and the town walls about 2 years ago too.

Its a long time since I visited Portmeirion... I had to go after I became rather obsessed with the Prisoner.

Despite there being very little left to appreciate, I thought I'd post this up simply due to its mystery. Its known as Carndochan Castle, situated on a rocky hilltop overlooking Lake Bala... You could walk right through it today without ever realizing it was ever a building, let alone a fortress. Only from the air does it actually take shape...

Its a genuine historical mystery. Judging by its shape and design, its probably the work of Llywelyn Fawr, some time in the late 12th or early 13th century. Beyond that, absolutely nothing is known about it... An unsubstantiated archaeological dig in the 19th century claimed to have found human remains, and large quantities of ash, suggesting it was gutted by fire. Whether that was due to siege, slighting, or accident will probably never be known. There is not a single mention of it in any historical document... Even the road it was probably built to guard has all but vanished, to the point where it doesn't even show up on Ordnance Survey maps, but it can still be followed on foot.

(25-05-2016 05:51 PM)skyking Wrote: I suppose the stones get scavenged for fences and buildings as time passes.

That's quite common. The house some friends of mine live in is partly built with stone from Caergwrle Castle.

One thing I did read about Carndochan, is that the stone and surviving masonry appears to be of higher quality on the keep, compared to the rest of the castle, suggesting different phases of building. Its possible that the rest of the castle was built of dry-stone, similar to Dolbadarn in Llanberis, of which only the keep survives beyond foundation levels.